Cooling system/Intercooler cleaning

[MikeP]

If there's a world-wide shortage of silicone, it's because the previous "mechanic" on Brigadoon bought it all and used it on the engines...

I pulled the port intercoolers (8v71TI) yesterday. Pulling them was pretty easy as one unit, just four bolts and the hoses to the water/turbos/air horn. However, disassembling them was a royal pain because every part was siliconed together (permatex orange). Hoses too! Yep, all the hoses were attached to the intercoolers/air horn with (blue) silicone slathered onto the the neck and then double clamped. The intercoolers themselves had the oem gaskets but several pounds of silicone was placed on both sides of the gaskets, effectively gluing everything together. It took me about an hour to finally disassemble the units. I had to work a razor blade into the joint to separate the elements.

I couldn't find Karl's recommended stuff at Home Depot so I used the DD recommended mix to clean the intercoolers - muriatic acid, oxalic acid, and water and got plenty of gunk out of the coolers. (NOTE: this mix is HARD on asphalt driveways). I wanted to pull them rather than cleaning in place because I wanted to inspect the ICs and also get rid of all that silicone from the joint surfaces. It was everywhere, all over the bolt threads...Geez! Nothing says "shadetree" like cured silicone oozing from all joints!

I get furious at this kind of stuff for several reasons:
1. It's the wrong use for a good product. Silicone is a great and appropriate gasket maker in many applications but using a gasket maker AND a gasket is stupid.
2. When used as a gasket maker, it should not be slapped on and immediately assembled and torqued, it just oozes out and the ooze ends up breaking off when it cures and going...?
3. It makes the parts VERY difficult to disassemble. This is particularly annoying. The common way to address this is to coat the mating surfaces with a film of oil, then apply the silicone. Easy to do - but the previous guy didn't.

Another thing the somebody did at some time was to tighten the flanges on the intercoolers to the point where it distorted the area around the bolt holes. This results in a failure to seal. Of course, sufficient silicone will seal it and it did! It's easy enough to repair the problem - 5 minutes and a shop vise trued all the flanges nicely. People do this with valve cover gaskets all the time and the more they are tightened, the worse they leak - unless you gob in tons of silicone.

So today (I'm retired as of today!!!), I'll paint and reassemble the ICs with oem gaskets and shellac gasket sealer (Perfect Seal), as God intended. There were no obstruction in the ICs, no impellor parts or anything so I don't think there was any real obstruction to flow. So, that's the first item in the "circuit" out of the way.

This was the first step in sorting out the temp creep I get above 1700 RPM. I also put DDs on-line coolant system flush into the fresh water portion of the cooling systems. When I drain it, I'll pull the Heat Ex and clean it as well.

And I don't think they should sell silicone to anybody without a mandatory course on how to use it!

[Nick]

Mike,

Congratulations on your retirement! You retire and Gig is for sale? Happy Monday!



Did you get the intercooler gaskets from Atlantic DD in Ronkonkoma or J&T?



Nick

[MikeP]

Hi Nick,

I got the gaskets for all the ICs and heat ex's, as well as the on-line coolant flush and Power Cool from Atlantic in Ronkonkoma. They were only about a mile from work and on my way home. Unfortunately - they are now about 23 miles away and NOT on my way to anywhere! I like them and the parts guy that I always talk to - unfortunately, I don't know his name - is knowledgeable and helpful.

I got up at the usual work time this morning. Hopefully I'll break that habit in a week or two!

[Nick]

The parts guy is probably Mike Pistone. He is very knowledgable.



Nick

[Nonchalant1]

Mike,

Good job!
If you put a flushing gun (air-water mix at 40PSI max) on the intercoolers in the reverse of the flow direction, it ought ot go through them with no resistance whatsoever if the tubes are clean. You can't see or reach the tubes to rod them out. Also check the fins side to see if any tubes are expanded from oval to round by overpressure from the pump when blocked. If very many are rounded, too many fins will be squashed. That's why they say 40PSI max on the flushing gun too.

Doug

[34Hatt]

So today (I'm retired as of today!!!),

Congrats Nice time of year too retire just in time for the start of the Boating season on the Island, even if its not that nice out Today .

[Traveler 45C]

And I don't think they should sell silicone to anybody without a mandatory course on how to use it!

Perhaps they need to be licensed also

Congrats on your retirement!

[SKYCHENEY]

Congratulations on your retirement, Mike. I assume that you will now have enough time to complete all of your boat projects and then you will be bored. But that is okay, because when you finally get Brigadoon up to snuff, you can come up here and I'll put you to work on my list. (I know you're qualified and I won't have to watch over your shoulder either)

[MikeP]

Thanks Sky!

But I'll probably be to old and feeble to do any other work by the time I get Brigadoon the way I want it. Then again, it has occurred to me that I might be a bit OTT on some issues. Things like hose clamps with too much "tail" sticking out make me crazy as does painted hoses and wires. (Not too mention silicone ooze!).

Here's a good example...After cleaning up the intercoolers and painting them I realize I have 40 IC nuts/bolts/washers that are not particularly attractive. They are painted but chipped and they are covered with silicone. I can't put them back in like that so... I wanted to replace them all with SS hardware but that's around 40 bucks to replace something that doesn't really need replacing. Then I figured I'd clean them all up with a wire brush and repaint them. But then when I put them on, they would chip again! What to do, what to do? I soaked them in acetone for the day, hoping it would at least get most of the paint off. Nope. Silicone's still there too. Maybe I'll chuck them each in a drill press and wire brush them clean and install them that way (unpainted). They aren't really subject to rusting in that location. Or maybe I'll just paint 'em and touch em up after installation. Or what the heck, maybe I'll spend the 40 bucks for ss! But I have the other engine's ICs to do as well...80 bucks!

[SKYCHENEY]

I like the way you think